In the name of the triune God,
amen.
Bradley Coates was a great man in
this world. Beloved husband, loving
father, cherished friend, ardent benefactor of charities around the city. Bradley Coates was a great man.
Bradley Coates was a man who
understood that he was a sinner. It was
with tears in his eyes that he met with me last week proclaiming the depth of
his despair. He delineated a list of
transgressions against his wife, his children, his friends and even his
enemies. Bradley Coates had discovered
the blackness of sin in his heart.
Bradley was baptized in 1946 as an
infant in Dublin. When he moved to the
United States as a youth, he attended Roman Catholic mass until he was old
enough to leave home. By his own
admission, Bradley Coates had not been back to Church, any church, since 1964,
that is, he had not returned until last week.
So many have asked me these questions: is there really a life after death,
is there a heaven and a hell, where will Bradley be, and will we see him again? These are important questions, questions that
deserve answers to the best of my ability.
Let me begin with Baptism,
briefly. As an infant, Bradley was
brought into covenant community with Christ Jesus. Remember the words of our Baptism: he is marked as Christ’s own forever. While Bradley may not have darkened the doors
of any church for decades, clearly he was a repentant sinner who received
absolution and the grace of God in salvation through the redemptive work of
Jesus on the cross. This is a theme on
which many of you have heard me preach many times over the years. Therefore, while his path was one lacking in
the fellowship and communion of faith over the preponderance of his life,
Kaitlin, you should have some assurance that Bradley is in communion with his
Lord and Savior as we speak.
What of death? If a man such as Bradley, who appeared among
us in the Church so rarely can be said to have received the gift of salvation,
what, then, does death matter? Let us
remember the words of the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans: Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one
man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
Romans (5:12)
And so death is the result of sin. Some of you might assume that death is the
natural course of events. Death is the
only outcome of this life that any of us has ever experienced in others, and
the only outcome that we expect for ourselves.
God said to Adam after his disobedience in the Garden of Eden: “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you
return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to
dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19 ESV)
Clearly death is a penalty for sin,
and Bradley knew that he was a sinner. But
is death the end? Let us turn to the
words of Christ Jesus in John. “My kingdom is not of this world.” (John 18:36
ESV) If Christ’s kingdom is not of this world, where shall we find it? If we are all members now of the Kingdom of
God through Christ and His baptism, and His Kingdom is not of this world, where
shall we find it? Jesus says to the
thief on the cross next to him who recognizes Him in His glory, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in
Paradise.” (Luke 23:43 ESV)
There is no doubt that both the
thief and Jesus Christ our Lord died bodily on that day. And yet, Jesus speaks of being with the thief
in Paradise that very day. How can this
be? We all know what happened to Jesus, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the
twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time. (1
Corinthians 15:4-6a ESV) Jesus was bodily raised from the dead. Can we assume that we will all follow in
Jesus’ footsteps? Is there resurrection
for Bradley so that he may join our Lord?
Let me answer with the words of
Paul to the saints in Corinth:
“I believed, and so I spoke,” we
also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus
will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. So we do
not lose heart. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an
eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things
that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen
are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. For we know that if the tent that is our
earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our
heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For
while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be
unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be
swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who
has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So
we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we
are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good
courage. (2 Corinthians 4:13b-14, 16-18a, 5:1-8a ESV)
Kaitlin, be
then of good courage. I believe that
Bradley did truly repent of his sin and understand his need for salvation
through faith and thanksgiving as given to him by the Spirit through the
redeeming work of Jesus Christ on the cross.
I believe that he did truly receive the gift of this saving faith. I believe that like those saints of Corinth,
Bradley has been given his new house, his new body, that is eternal in the
heavens. I believe that Bradley is in
paradise with His Lord and Savior this very day. May it be that we all have that saving faith
that was given to Bradley, so one day, when it is our turn, we may join also in
communion with Jesus Christ in His eternal kingdom.
Amen.
These are fictional people. The exercise was to discuss death, resurrection and heaven in a funeral homily.
